Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. (1Jn 2:15-16 NIV)

Eating or thinking about food has dominated much of my life. I’ve given years to a preoccupation with and an over indulgence of food and/or dieting. I’ve lost battle after battle with my weight. And I still eat when I’m not hungry . . . when I’m angry, lonely, worried, bored, afraid, and nervous. Oh, yeah, and when I’m happy, too.

I know I eat more than my body needs. And when I use food in this manner, I’m no different from those who turn to alcohol, drugs, sex, or other compulsive behavior. In the past, I claimed (and believed) that my overeating was a personality disorder and/or a chemical imbalance or other type of addiction. It semi-absolved me from any responsibility in the matter. How convenient. How unproductive.

In the Word of God, I discovered that compulsive overeating is a behavioral problem compounded by years of bad habits, family history, environment, lack of knowledge, no self-discipline, my self-will, and my sin nature. If I’m stuffing food, chances are I’m stuffing the reasons I’m overeating. These issues need to be brought to the surface, acknowledged and addressed if I ever want to be free from them.

Sometimes I want to hide my struggles in this area, but extra weight is tough to hide. It acts as an outward sign of my pain, disobedience, and failure. It’s hard to ignore. Maybe that’s a good thing because it makes it difficult to deny I need help.

I’ve turned to food for my comfort instead of to God. How lame is that? The good news is that God is a God of grace. He can change me from the inside out!

I crave a good relationship with food, don’t you? I’m going to start today. Want to come along?